So things just got really serious--4.3, which was a huge mystery, is now pretty much unveiled at Gamescom. When speaking to Kotaku and Gamona.de, Tom Chilton was very open in just how much content the patch would have for WoW players. " has a whole bunch of content," he said, "three dungeons for five player instances and a new raid instance culminating in the Deathwing fight."

Of course, it's not just dungeons to be excited for. Those ethereals we mentioned a week and a half ago? They're for what most of us only dreamed in our biggest dreams and Blizzard previously said was impossible: armor customization. "We have a wealth of armor sets we created that people no longer use," Chilton said, explaining why they had chosen to add it in.

What we know about 4.3:

Deathwing in 4.3According to Kotaku: "The Deathwing fight will be the most epic boss encounter to date, including a battle phase that takes place on the massive dragon's back as he flies through the sky."

Our German localizer said Blizzard indicated that another 5-man will be old content revisited--our money is on Ahn'qiraj (AQ20/AQ40)

There will be a cross-realm raid finderFrom the Video Gamer transcript, apparently there will be a Darkmoon Faire Island with Whack-a-Gnoll (some people think it is gnome, but it wasn't--they're not racist against gnomes!)There will be armor customizing in 4.3; the Ethereal ability to transmogrify a player's armor, reskinning it to look like other armor in the game

This will be class specific (i.e. you can't make your armor look like paladin tier if you're a warlock)

You cannot customize something into a legendary unfortunately

They have not worked out specifics yet on if you will have to have owned the sets prior (personally, as someone who deleted most sets due to no space, I hope it's not required) -- the preview post explains all the details!

100-150 bank spaces for old gear

This may also serve as crossrealm storage or multiple character storage, this is unconfirmed but was hinted at--it makes sense, especially with the name "Void" storage

With these possible changes, it's looking like 4.3 will be the most memorable patch World of Warcraft has had since the TBC ages. And that really is no small feat.

Official Transmogrification Announcement

You’ve been asking for it, and we were listening. In patch 4.3 you’ll be able to customise the appearance of your weapons and armor like never before. Visiting a Transmogrifier will present players with a new interface that will allow them to change the appearance of an item while retaining its original stats. This means that you can raid in your paladin tier 12 Immolation set, but look like you’re wearing Lightbringer, while priests can bring Benediction back – at least in spirit. Hunters can once again roam the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale in their tier 2 Dragonstalker set. You could even slip into the saucy tailored Black Mageweave set for that matter. You know, with the thigh-highs, and the little gloves, and the cute little… ahem.

Placing an item into the Transmogrifier interface will offer a preview of how the item will appear once the change is applied. However, not all item pairings are compatible with Transmogrification. In general, only items that have stats can be used in the transmogrification process. You must also be able to wear both items when using this service. Ethereals don’t have much in the way of ethics, but allowing someone to appear as if they’re equipping unusable items crosses the line. Similarly, they won’t allow you to change weapon or armor types. Sneaky death knights can’t make that breastplate look like a cloth robe, and you can’t make a one-handed axe look like a two-handed axe, or transform a sword’s appearance into that of a mace. Guns, bows, and crossbows will be the exception to this rule. You will finally be able to retain your dwarf’s racial gun bonus while appearing with all the splendor and elegance of a bow wielder (or at least the relative silence of one).

Placing items into the Transmogrify interface will increase the gold cost of the process, and clicking the Transmogrify button (assuming you have the necessary funds) will put the appearance change into effect. The process can be reversed by clicking the undo icon on each item, and then hitting the Transmogrify button once more to save the changes. Any item that’s transmogrified will have text indicating it’s been altered by the process for all to see, similar to the item tooltip callout for reforged items.

Transmogrification encourages players to hold onto items with sentimental or aesthetic value, and the Ethereals anticipate that personal bag and bank space will be at a premium now that everyone will be hoarding their frilly pantaloons and leather jerkins. In anticipation of this new demand for additional storage space, they’ll be introducing a unique Void Storage service. What’s Void Storage, you ask? We’ll provide more details soon.

Diablo III and StarCraft 2 News

Of course, there was also some awesome new D3 and SC2 news in Blizzard's Gamescom presentation. There's no need to go in-depth, but here's a quick summary of what they discussed courtesy of Level Up:

What we know from Diablo III:

Inferno will be Diablo III's max difficulty level

The mode will offer increasing challenges: "If a monster is fire resistant, they're MORE fire resistant and more aggressive at the higher level."

There will be a lot of new art to indicate higher level gear--no more items looking the same as they did in Diablo II

"Orange is hand-crafted items with static statistics, while yellow will be rare gear that's randomly generated"

"Diablo 3 offers unique rewards depending on difficulty setting, max level of 60, max levels of enemies at 61, and Inferno offers further replayability, offering room and options for the game to continue to extend for years after release."

What we know about StarCraft II:

It will be 20 missions long

You will play as Kerrigan in every mission and unlock the "core Zerg fantasy"

Comments

Comment by Problimatic

Yay I can now tank with sulfuras without looking like a moron wielding a level 60 weapon :D. (Yes I have swordshattering on my sulfuras for randomly tanking heroics with it. Don't judge.)

Comment by Ashelia

on 2011/08/17 13:13:06

*yawn*

New 5 mans are good for the one time you do them and while armor customization is nice not only is it another gold sink but it will be fun for all of 10 minutes. Having the just for fun sets is something I do but I wear them in town BECAUSE theyre silly and unique. Everyone else in town can be a slave to their pvp/raid gear but I wasnt, Id wore my old crap and dance while using items that increased the chance of people HAVING to look In short, it'll just be a big loss of gold and I'll want it back so very dearly.

And pffffft Blizzard is only making 4.3 have Deathwing in it because they keep losing subscribers because the content coming out is crap. It's gonna be a lame raid and is gonna make that new tier of gear people just got already obsolete. And what's after Deathwing? Nothing. That means anything after this patch is just filler until they scramble for another expansion to be made to reel in subscribers. They already even have the name for it.

I liked it better when patches took longer but were HUGE and were not only exciting but had content I didnt mind holding me over for long periods of time.

Comment by Grarthor

Comment by Ravenboom

on 2011/08/17 13:22:17

A couple of things-- A) While this is all very exciting news (except for the already bored people who honestly don't care about what they are putting out, they know that they are never excited and should stop spreading the sorrow), this hasn't TOUCHED the ptr yet. Firelands is not, and will not be dead for what I imagine to be at LEAST 3 months, and even at that point we have to raid to get gear, amirite?B) Something I found exciting, part of the Deathwing fight is apparently supposed to be on his back (for the proof, go ). I can't imagine fighting him many other ways considering he is like giganormous, and imagine that a face on fight would lead to some really freaky things...unless he gets hit by a gnome ray lol.C) Armor transmorgifier sounds like a beast idea, I think I need to start farming some older raids to nab some sets...wish casters used 2h maces so I can turn it into old Sulfuras...only thing that would make me happier is getting Dragonwrath xDD) While the cross realm raid thing can be amazing, I'm never touching a full tier like Deathwing will be with it. Something doesn't sound appealing about learning RAID FIGHTS with pugs O.o

Anyway, just some of my thoughts.

Edit: URL for the proof didn't show up but Ashelia posted one on the original blog post so you can look at that :)

Comment by Newor

on 2011/08/17 13:24:22

*yawn*

New 5 mans are good for the one time you do them and while armor customization is nice not only is it another gold sink but it will be fun for all of 10 minutes. Having the just for fun sets is something I do but I wear them in town BECAUSE theyre silly and unique. Everyone else in town can be a slave to their pvp/raid gear but I wasnt, Id wore my old crap and dance while using items that increased the chance of people HAVING to look In short, it'll just be a big loss of gold and I'll want it back so very dearly.

And pffffft Blizzard is only making 4.3 have Deathwing in it because they keep losing subscribers because the content coming out is crap. It's gonna be a lame raid and is gonna make that new tier of gear people just got already obsolete. And what's after Deathwing? Nothing. That means anything after this patch is just filler until they scramble for another expansion to be made to reel in subscribers. They already even have the name for it.

I liked it better when patches took longer but were HUGE and were not only exciting but had content I didnt mind holding me over for long periods of time.

Exactly. Everything became so disposable now. You can't even take your own time now to do the content. You need to do it A.S.A.P. or Blizzard will just get it done for you with faster patches/nerfs.

Comment by draellyn

on 2011/08/17 13:28:32

im liking 4.3. gunna be sweet! :D

Comment by MrBosch

on 2011/08/17 13:30:05

blizzard im begging you dont make it possible to change your damn gear.. its the dumbest thing i have yet seen you release :S

Comment by xavierice

on 2011/08/17 13:31:11

Looking forward to transmogrify my priest's set to Absolution set (Tier 6).

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011/08/17 13:31:55

Looking forward to transmogrify my priest's set to Absolution set (Tier 6).

Comment by SirPunky

You will not be able to transmogrify using a legendary item as either the source or the recipient of a change.

Comment by gorelos

on 2011/08/17 13:43:15

Will changing to the T6 Absolution Regalia for my little shadow priest, definitely. At the very very least swapping for those shoulders *drool* 8D"

Comment by Xirifus

on 2011/08/17 13:51:30

Finally! I've been waiting for this kind of feature for a good while now!

EDIT. The gear transmogrif...ying, that is

Comment by Magician22773

on 2011/08/17 13:51:48

Overall, looks like Blizz pulled out all the stops on this one.

I am kinda surprised at the QQ to Whoo-Hoo ratio so far. I would assume that the Deathwing encounter will roll out similar to how ICC did, in stages.

And as for the transmogify....whatever (God, the spelling police are gonna love this one)..."Gear Changer".....I so hope that it requires you to have the gear to access the skin. I would be OK with exceptions made for items that are no longer in game, but that you have had before. The issue here, is it possible for the game to know wether or not you had an item, but no longer do....without something like an achievment?

While it may seem "unfair" to have to re-grind old tier pieces...it would add something to the game. It would actually make even facerolling old-world content "fun" again for a while, looking to complete a set, rather than just choosing from a list of all gear that was ever in the game.

Comment by Problimatic

You will not be able to transmogrify using a legendary item as either the source or the recipient of a change.

QQ :(

Comment by Fredrick

on 2011/08/17 13:53:34

This made my best friend quit wow, thank you blizzard. Was this really needed >:(

Comment by Fredrick

on 2011/08/17 13:57:52

I hope they will also add a feature similar to the Hide Cloack and Helmet, like a Hide Transmogrified Items.

Comment by Kaltac

on 2011/08/17 13:59:36

wait we get to Deathwing already? It hasn't even been a year yet. Doesn't anyone see this as a bit short for an end game boss compared to Wrath, TBC and Vanillia? It hasn't even been a year since Cata came out. It's only been what? 8 months?